[Help] How do I add a custom scene divider?

Scrivener Scrivener for Windows
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To replace ‘*’ and ‘#’ variables in my project, how do I add custom icons or pngs as a scene divider to my project? Is there a feature for that? I’m mostly figuring out the formatting features of Scrivener for Windows 10, but I haven’t been able to figure this out.

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Use fonts with swashes and dingbats is one solution for that. You can set the font for Custom Separators.

You could add your own images centered on top of a Scene Template.

In the Title prefix, you could add an IMG Placeholder or a marker that’s Replaced by an Image.

HTH

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If I want a dinkus that is unique, I just create an image then invoke it in the manuscript. such as:

<$img:dinkusiconB;w=44>

Setting the width to 44 seems about right, but you can set it to any width (or height) you wish. One thing this does (if you add a paragraph pilcrow immediately after) is center it on its own line, but that is usually what we want.

It’s best to precede this with an extra carriage return.

It seems to be ‘style-agnostic’ (adding a style seems to do nothing, but that is also likely what we want). It seems to inherit the paragraph afterspacing, also likely what we want.

You could possibly have it on the same line as a line of text, sort of like a drop cap might appear, but this can be problematic for ereaders which reformat the font, size, margins, columns, etc. arbitrarily.

What would be really nice is if it were shown WYSIWYG in comp mode, but it’s not. You have to compile it to see it the way a reader would see it.

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I learned a new word today!

Dinkus

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Surprisingly, that is the accepted term in typography. The look on my face once realizing that …

But I find them a great tool. I didn’t use them for years. Gaps in time, changes in location, changes in focus in the story, I just used a carriage return. Or it would coincide with a chapter break.

But I eventually realized that if the gap in time, change in location, change of focus, or any combo of those was more significant, the dinkus was a great tool to indicate this to the reader. That way, they are prepared for a significant change.

So maybe once every 25 times, there’s a dinkus, 24 of the 25 times, just a carriage return.

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